Christians, There Will Be No Revival

Russell Moore held a big position in the Southern Baptists. He was pushed out for telling the truth. Now he is head of the magazine Christianity Today and has written a new book.

Moore says many devoted Christians are waiting for things to get better. If only we get through this worrisome 2016 election, then 2020 they thought, things would get better.  Church membership and attendance continued to fall. 

Every week there are articles written by Christian leaders calling for a "revival." This revival, Moore says, will not happen because the sensuism in Western societies is too great. There have been so many fallen leaders and fallen causes a most of society will not buy in again. It would be refreshing if other leaders would be as honest as Moore and tell their public this is not going to happen.

Then there is the theory of "church plants." This theory quotes data saying that about 40% of new church attendees are people who did not attend church. Of course, is means 60% were already church goers and were stolen from other churches. These new churches need money for staff and facilities. The only way there can be huge numbers of preachers, secretaries and bookkeepers is if all are volunteers. A few new churches will not offset the current fall in Christian numbers. More children will not turn the tide either. 

Young people have often left the fold for a few years only to return when they started families. This is no long happening in numbers large enough to make any difference. 

Dying industries sometimes can reinvent themselves into something that works. Newspapers are a dying industry. They are staffed with people who write about news and with other people who sell advertising. Many papers are surviving by becoming internet sites where people go to see the news or be entertained. This, of course, took some thinking outside the box. Could churches reinvent themselves to become something different than they now are?

It seems to me churches are to a large extent sub communities of large communities. People who move to an area want to find friends and feel part of the area. I'm sure nearly all churches put out the best welcome mat. But so many in churches have a foolish belief their understanding of the Bible or the denomination is superior to all other interpretations. Any newbie who hears the heated debates about how to baptize, the correct communion, anti-gay or abortion or any of the other many dogmatic nonsense in the faith will not stick around long. To grow churches, they need to become Christian lite. Ironically, there are Christians who believe sermons and lessons need to be heavier on dogma.

What most anyone can see is that the greying memberships of churches has no interest in changing the institutions. The church exists because they own it. They like it the way it is.